A girl gets her hands decorated with traditional henna patterns at a roadside stall ahead of Eid-al Fitr to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Karachi, Pakistan, July 17, 2015. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

Armed Yemeni children sit in the back of a pick up truck with fighters loyal to Yemen's Saudi-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in the Dar saad neighbourhood of the southern Yemeni city of Aden on May 10, 2015, as they continue to battle Shiite Huthi rebels. (Photo by Saleh Al-Obeidi/AFP Photo)

A swimmer stops short of a red algae bloom at Sydney's Clovelly Beach on November 27, 2012, which closed some beaches for swimming including Bondi Beach for a period of time. While the red algae, known as Noctiluca scintillans or sea sparkle, has no toxic effects, people are still advised to avoid swimming in areas with discoloured water because the algae, which can be high in ammonia, can cause skin irritation. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

A woman places her fingers into the crucifix-shaped holes in one of the ancient columns in the Church of the Nativity on December 22, 2011 in Bethlehem, West Bank. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Men look out from a carriage train as it leaves from the Nizamuddin Railway Station on February 06, 2012 in New Delhi, India. The Nizamuddin Railway Station serves as the main station connecting all major cities, and is served by Northern Railways. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Revellers take a break during the Carnival 2016 parade in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, February 8, 2016. (Photo by Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)

Devotees of the Chinese Jui Tui shrine are seen with spikes piercing their cheeks during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand in this October 19, 2015 combination photo. The festival, featuring face-piercing, sacrifice, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)